I never once thought that I should exfoliate my skin. Never once thought that scratching my face with something, even if you call it gentle, even if you mix it with butter, makes any sense. There was something in me that just… didn’t agree. So I never did. You see my face every day on Instagram. This creature that I am, born into a human body, never felt separate from a flower, or a cat, or a tree. And it always hurt me a little when I saw how people treated their skin. It was intuition.
And then I started observing. There was a woman who lived next door when I was growing up. She had a cat. Her home was spotless. Not just clean, controlled, spotless. You felt it the moment you walked in. Everything in its place. Surfaces shining. Even the walls looked like they had been washed. And the cat… she bathed him every week. I remember thinking, he must hate this. You could feel it in him. He was always restless, always making noise, a kind of constant protest in his body. It never felt natural.
She had a large beauty table with a huge mirror. Rows and rows of products. Scrubs, peels, masks, serums, everything you could imagine. And yet… I had never seen skin like hers. Red, fragile, dry, almost injured-looking. As if it were constantly reacting, constantly trying to recover from something. I couldn’t understand it at the time. Because from the outside, she was doing everything right. Everything she was told to do. But nothing was working.
And that stayed with me as a little girl. Not as a conclusion, but as a question. What if the problem was never that we weren’t doing enough… but that we never learned how to stop?
Stop calling them dead skin cells.
They are not something to fight. They are the final layer of a living process, a protective shield your body builds, cell by cell, to meet the world. They sit there, doing their job. Holding water in. Softening impact. Shielding what is still forming underneath. And when their time is complete, they don’t just “sit” there. They become food.
Your skin is not just skin. It is an ecosystem. A living surface, full of microorganisms that depend on what your body naturally provides. Those “dead” skin cells are part of that system. They are nourishment. They are food for your microbiome. The bacteria on your face literally eat them as food. They are how the cycle continues.
So when you remove them aggressively, repeatedly, thinking you are helping, you are interrupting something intelligent. You are removing protection before the skin is ready. You are taking away food from the microbiome. And that’s when you start to see it, the sensitivity, the redness, the constant need for more products. It’s not because your skin is failing you. It’s because it’s trying to keep up. It’s time to unlearn.
You see my face every single day. No makeup. No filters. No layers hiding anything. And that is intentional. Not to prove something, but to show you what skin looks like when it is not being interfered with. I am not working with influencers who promote something new every week. I would rather show my face and age with you.
Although I must say, it took time. I remember saying "No way you are filming me to a friend who seemed so comfortable in front of the camera. And then I thought… I need to explain this. Who is going to say this if I don’t? I live what I am saying in my own body. I came back from illness. Ezgi, do it. They won’t eat you.
And here I am. In front of the camera, every day. And since then, two more people have joined our team — Hailey and Areti. And you know what I love the most? Areti has just turned 18, and she is studying beauty. And I keep thinking… I caught her just in time. Before she is fully absorbed by the beauty world as it is taught. Before the layers, the treatments, the constant interference. I caught a young human before all of that. And there is something so beautiful in that. To meet someone before they are told what they should do to themselves and others.
And Hailey… another strange coincidence. A tattoo artist. She told me that she broke her leg, and they wanted to do surgery to put metal inside. And she said, how would I live comfortably with metal in my body? And she refused. She said, I will heal this. She moved her body, massaged her leg, and worked with it every day. She trusted it. And she said, "my leg came back to normal". I fixed it. I just listened to my body.
And I didn’t even look for them. I didn’t advertise. I didn’t plan this. And it made me realise something.
When your intention is true… when your work is truly about supporting people, not controlling them… something else starts to move. You cannot explain it logically. It is as if the universe rearranges things. It brings the right people into your life. People you will support, and who will support you. In ways you could never organise yourself.
And would you believe it… as I am writing this on the "1st of April" as if the universe has a sense of humour… a friend of mine from Turkey sent me a photo from our university days. We are in our dorm room, sitting together, eating. And I am the only one… hiding my face. Closing myself off so no one can see me.
Can you imagine that? From someone who didn’t want to be seen, who didn't speak… to someone who now understands that she has to be seen. That there is no hiding. That if I believe in this… I have to show it. With my own face. She didn’t even know I was writing this. She is in another country. And still… at that exact moment… the photo arrives at midnight on the 1st of April. What a strange, beautiful coincidence.
Who is watching me? 🤔
Turns out… when you stop interrupting the body, it knows exactly what to do. There are no scratches. No constant inflammation. No uneven, restless surface. Just skin… doing what it was designed to do.
I have never exfoliated my skin, and I don't plan to.
When the skin comes back into balance, real balance, not forced results, everything begins to reorganise itself. Sebum starts to regulate. Hydration starts to stay. And the microbiome… starts to thrive.
And those skin cells everyone is trying to remove? They become something else entirely. They become part of the cycle. When your skin is supported, with real nourishment, with time, with consistency, those cells are not dry, damaged debris. They are whole. They are rich. They are exactly what your microbiome needs. They are… food.
Can you imagine that?
That your body is constantly creating what it needs, from within. That which falls away is not waste, but part of a system that feeds itself.
This is what is happening on my face. Every day, when I show up here. What you are seeing is not the result of doing more. It is the result of stopping the interruption. This is what skin feels like in homeostasis. Not perfect. Not manipulated. Just… in balance.
And maybe the question is not what should I add next? But what would happen if you finally stopped… and allowed your skin to do what it has always known how to do?
And if you are new to this, if this way of seeing skin feels unfamiliar, if you are standing at the beginning and wondering where to start, start simply. Come back to balance first. The Flow Set is not there to fix your skin. It is there to bring it back… to itself. Back into homeostasis. Back into a state where your skin can regulate, respond, and function as it was designed to.
And then… You live in the world. You feel the sun, the air, the seasons changing. So you adapt. As we move into summer, this is where the Sun Elixir comes in. Not to block life out of your skin, but to help your skin meet it. To adapt, instead of resist. To stay in a relationship with the environment, not hide from it.
Stay away from exfoliation.
Not because you need another rule, but because now you understand what you would be interrupting.
If you are in that transition, if your skin feels a little flaky, a little uncertain, and you don’t quite know what to do, I understand that moment. And if you need support there, you can reach for the Herbal Detox Face Mask. But not to exfoliate. Never to exfoliate.
To assist what is already ready to leave. The natural enzymes from plants gently break down what is already at the end of its cycle. And the clays simply help lift it away. Nothing is forced. Nothing is scratched. Nothing is taken before its time.
There is a difference between something that feels gentle and something that is truly gentle. Gentle is not about texture. Not about how soft something feels in your hands. Gentle is about understanding biology. It is about thinking in terms of homeostasis. Because in true homeostasis, you always leave something behind. You never strip everything away. You respect the system.
Even in that moment, you are still leaving food for your microbiome.
Use it once a week, no more. And even that, over time, you may not need. It becomes something else. Not a correction, but nourishment.
And when you use it, keep it alive. Mix it with rose mist if your skin is already balanced, or with raw jojoba if you are still regulating. Apply it softly and keep it wet. Moisture helps plant enzymes stay alive. And when you remove it, a soft, gentle cloth, one or two light swipes. No friction. No urgency. Just enough.
And then return to your Flow. The Flow Set and the seasonal layer.
This is the most gentle thing you can do. Not because it feels delicate, but because it is in deep respect of how your body already works.